Charlton McCallum Safaris
Zimbabwe, Zambezi River Valley, Dande North Concession
PH – Alan Shearing
Species Hunted – Buffalo, Sable, Eland
Rifle – CZ 550, 375H&H, 300 gr. Trophy Bonded Soft Point, 300 gr. Nosler Solid
Travel Arrangements – Steve Turner, Travel With Guns
Dates of Hunt – 18 July thru 31 July, 2015

My daughter and I departed Helena, MT at 7a.m. on July 14 on a Delta Connection Flight to Salt Lake City. Then on to Atlanta and Johannesburg, South Africa on Delta flights. After a 1 hour delay we departed for Harare on a South Africa Air flight, arriving at 10p.m. July 15 – about 32 hours of travel. Myles McCallum met us at the airport and delivered us to the Ridgeway B&B, a very nice place to stay and relax. We spent 2 nights in Harare as I like to schedule a rest day after that kind of travel to start adjusting to the 8 hour time change, provide time for any lost luggage to catch up and to do a little shopping. Kirsty took time out of her day to take us around the town. Our PH, Alan Shearing, met us for dinner at the Ridgeway on the evening of the 16th – a chance to meet and start getting to know each other.
On July 17 the adventure really began. Alan met us at 9a.m. for the 6 hour drive to their main camp, Pedza, in the Dande North concession area. We could have flown for an additional cost but I really wanted the opportunity to see the countryside on the way to the hunting area. We arrived at camp by mid-afternoon and were soon settled into comfortable quarters for each of us. I neglected to mention that Amanda came as an observer with a desire to take lots of photos and some video. After checking the sighting on the rifle, we enjoyed drinks and snacks by the fire pit prior to the first of many delicious camp meals. We were also introduced to our nightly entertainment - a small family of lesser night apes, or bush babies, that would visit the campfire each evening.
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The 18th was our first day of hunting so up at 5a.m., breakfast at 5:30, ready to depart camp at 6 as dawn was fast approaching. My highest priority was a sable with a buffalo as number 2. If time allowed I would try for an eland (I knew this would be a tough proposition in this area) or perhaps a nice kudu if one presented itself. Alan thought it best to try for the buffalo first as he felt it would not take too long to find a nice bull. We could then devote the rest of our time to the sable if necessary. Without going into a lot of detail on each day’s hunt, I’ll try to describe a typical day chasing buffalo. First, find fresh tracks of where a dagga boy or herd has recently crossed a road. Follow the tracks until you catch up with the herd – hopefully with a favorable wind; try to get a look at a nice bull as the herd moves along through the rather thick “jess.” Leaves are coming down from the vegetation this time of year and are crispy dry which makes for noisy walking so we move slowing and as carefully as possible, trying to sort out the herd. By 9 or 10 the herd is trying to find a place to bed down for the day, which make approaching them and finding a bull in the mass of animals very difficult. Sometimes we bump them, they hear us or a fickle breeze gives them our scent, and they are up and running way. We take a break for an ample lunch, which is usually taken picnic-style in the field, and rest for a bit after walking, stalking and working the herd all morning. By mid-afternoon we take up the trail again and hope to catch the buffalo starting to move around and feed. We often are at close quarters to buffalo for a couple of hours at a time. During the chase, we enjoy seeing the varied countryside and vegetation as well as other animals such as hyena, warthog, elephant, baboons, porcupine, and countless birds.





We do this routine for four days, sometimes working a herd with close to 150 head of buffalo. It is a very exciting and traditional way to pursue buffalo. On the fourth day we picked up tracks of a large herd at about 7a.m. and followed until catching up with the herd by around 8:30. The wind was bad so we backed off and circled around trying to get in front of the wandering buffalo. We were successful but they turned so we had to keep moving quickly, and quietly around the moving animals. Sometimes we were near the front of the herd, other times near the middle or back end. We could never see very many at a time, just black blobs moving through the vegetation. They knew something was up and would periodically run off a ways so we had to scramble to catch up and try again to get in front of them. This intense process went on for about 3 hours or so before we were finally able to spot a nice bull moving into a spot where we could get a shot in an opening in the trees. As he passed the opening, slightly quartering away, I took the shot. He stumbled a bit but was quickly hidden in the trees with no chance for a follow-up. After waiting 10 minutes or so, we took up his trail, there was not a lot of blood but what we found seemed to be coming from his nose or mouth. After about 100 yards or so, we could hear him breathing rather laboriously. When we saw him he was laying down, faced away. I put another bullet into him from a raking angle. As he jumped up and ran away Alan also put a back-up shot or 2 into him. He was quickly out of sight. Following his tracks, we soon found him, apparently dead. My insurance shot made sure. It looked like he had died and collapsed while running. The first shot entered just behind his right shoulder and broke his off leg, passing through the lungs but missing the heart – just a hair too far back, but would have been lethal in short order. He was a very nice, representative, bull taken in an exciting and traditional hunt. This was my 5th buffalo and I am very pleased with both him and the hunt.



Now we had 10 days remaining to work on a sable. There are sable in Dande North but I would not say there are a lot of them - it would be a challenge to get a shot at a good bull. Alan knew where a herd liked to hang out that had a nice bull. In fact other hunters had tried for him over the past several years but had been unsuccessful. We first started looking for sable by checking water sources they seemed to like in the past. On the 1st day we could find no recent sign of them at all. Early on day 2 we found fresh tracks where the herd had watered during the night. We soon bumped the herd and they ran off without a viewing of the big bull but we did see a younger one. We caught up with them 2 or 3 more times but always in heavy cover with no shot opportunity at the herd bull. We did get a glimpse of him and knew he was the one we wanted. I don’t think they ever caught our scent as they didn’t go too far each time. We finally followed them into a somewhat more open area and could see the bull. He and a cow were looking at us but his chest area was covered by a tree and limb. With them looking right at us, we could not move to get an open shot. I found that when I laid down as flat as possible on the ground it appeared that I could manage to put a bullet just under the tree limb and into his chest. Well, I gave it a go but hit the limb – the sable all ran off. I was pretty disgusted with myself, had I blown my one chance at this great sable bull? We followed their tracks for the rest of that day, only stopping for water and an orange – no real lunch break. We did not see them again that day.
On the 3rd day we tried a different approach to the area they called home. While we waited for some elephants to get out of our way, Alan spotted the sable about a mile away. The chase was on again! That is, on again after detouring around and taking photos of a 10 foot long python that lay in our path.


The sable led us on a long and weary walk that day. We got close a time or two but could never get an opening through the trees to try a shot. Late in the day, just as we decided to head out of the bush and return to camp, Alan asked if I knew where we were. We had been moving around so much I said I didn’t recognize the spot. Alan pointed to a tree and showed me the bullet hole in a limb from the previous day. It was a bit of a discouraging day. However, when Alan asked us if we wanted to move to a different area and find a different bunch of sable to work, both of the trackers and I said we wanted to stick with this bull for at least another day.
We found the sable herd tracks early on the 4th day and caught up with the herd in 20 minutes. They were spread out on a hillside feeding, for once apparently unaware of us. There was a lot of cover so we could not see all of them. We had the shooting sticks set up waiting for the bull to appear. Suddenly he and a couple of cows came running along the hillside having apparently seen or scented us. It looked like the entire herd was about to bolt but the bull stopped, quartering away, with his head and shoulder hidden behind a tree. I tried to angle a shot through his gut into the off shoulder. The resulting “whack” and stumble before he disappeared made me and the whole gang feel he was ours. When we took up the trail there was a little blood and some paunch liquid but that was all. We began to think that he was not standing at so much of an angle as I thought and was just gut shot. Now I began to really feel down. Tracking was difficult and after about 4 hours the trail was lost. We took a break for lunch and to give him a chance to lie down and, hopefully, die. Late in the day we picked up his trail again and followed it until dark. Alan and the trackers were now upbeat – he was no longer with the herd and we had his track alone. They felt we would find him in the morning, most likely dead. That made me feel a little more optimistic but I was still pretty bothered by the shot – replayed repeatedly in my mind – that had caused this poor animal to suffer so much.
With an early start on day 5 of the sable hunt, we picked up the tracks where we had left them the previous evening. It was slow tracking but we made steady progress for 2 to 3 hundred yards or so. The tracks led into a stand of tall grass with some matted down areas. It appeared the sable herd had rejoined the bull and some fresh blood indicated that he was up and still moving. That was disheartening. As the trackers tried to sort out the tracks, Alan and I went ahead, over the top of a small ridge. We immediately saw 5 hyenas run up out of the bottom of the drainage. We both thought that they had found the sable and were eating on him. We could not see the bull but advanced to where the hyenas had been. Running water had washed out a gully in the valley bottom and in that depression we saw the sable bull! As we approached we could see that he was still alive but was about done in. He watched us approach but made no effort to get up. A shot to the heart and it was over. It seems the hyenas had found him during the night and he had been fighting them off for some time. Blood on his horns indicated that he had done some damage to at least one hyena. Before he had backed up into that washout to make his last stand, the hyenas had managed to eat his tail off but otherwise he was essentially undamaged. One final irony – after all the miles of tracking, he died less than 50 yards from the tree I had shot 3 days earlier.
In an attempt to avoid the tree hiding his shoulder, my initial shot was placed 2 - 3 inches too far back to angle into the lungs – the bullet was found just behind the far-side shoulder. This magnificent, gallant and courageous creature had suffered greatly but his will to live had held the hyenas at bay. We had a special toast in his honor around the campfire that night and he will occupy an honored place in my heart and home.


With my 2 highest priority animals “in the salt,” we had the opportunity to take a special trip to view some ancient native rock paintings in the afternoon. Then, it was time to take a day off from hunting and try to catch a tiger fish or two. We departed camp early for the drive to the Zambezi River and a visit to the Matombo Camp. This camp is situated on a high bluff with a beautiful view of the river. It was very windy in the morning so we just caught a few bait fish and found a protected piece of shoreline to try casting for a tiger fish. I did catch a small one from shore in the morning. The wind died down so after lunch we drifted the main river using small fish for bait. Amanda had a strong hit from a tiger fish but her line broke when it tangled with mine. Not long after, I also had a good strike and managed to land a nice 6 pounder – what a great fighting fish. And, what intimidating teeth! This was a wonderful, relaxing and fun day. Amanda took a lot of footage of hippos and some crocs.





Four days left on our hunt to try for an eland. This area does not have a large population of eland but there are some around. Being eland, they are a pretty wary critter to hunt under any conditions and when there aren’t too many around we knew we had our work cut out for us. We scouted the south end of the concession on the first day but found no fresh sign. On day 2 for eland we hunted north from the main camp, checking water sources for tracks. We found dagga bulls and hyena but no fresh eland sign until late in the afternoon. That sign was a great “blue” bull and a younger one spotted from the road, a couple of hundred yards away. They were gone before there was an opportunity to get organized for a shot. We tracked them until dark. At least we knew where a bull was and had tracks to follow the next morning. Day three amounted to following tracks all day and finding where they had been watering, but it appeared that we never came close to catching up to them – there was no indication they ever stopped to rest or feed. We had the opportunity to see many zebras in this part of the safari area, as well as additional glimpses of hyena and baby sand grouse. On the fourth day for eland, our 14th and last day of our hunt, we again tried to pick up their tracks but it appeared that they had moved east into Mozambique. We called it a day and returned to camp to relax, reflect, and start organizing for our departure early the next morning.
We departed camp at 4a.m. for the six hour drive back to Harare. South Africa Air to Johannesburg then Delta to Atlanta, Salt Lake City and Helena delivered us back home safe and sound. All connections easily made.
This entire hunt was a fantastic experience and has provided a life-time of shared memories for Amanda and me. The entire operation at Charlton McCallum Safaris is well managed, staffed, has great facilities and a great area to hunt – a truly wild part of Africa. Any hopes and expectations we may have had at the beginning were exceeded. Buzz and Myles run a real class act operation and Al is a great PH!! We so enjoyed our gourmet meals and our relaxing evenings around the fire, with many a great tale and laughs shared. Al's expertise about all of the local flora and fauna was outstanding, and his team joined in sharing their knowledge and love of the bush while we were hunting. I was greatly surprised at the large elephant population in Dande North – they were everywhere. We saw them every day. Often from the road as they trumpeted at us when we went by, sometimes from a distance while glassing, sometimes up close and personal while tracking other quarry. Buffalo are also in abundance and lion tracks were everywhere. They were often in camp at night, along with hyenas. Leopards are common, though not often seen in daylight, their tracks are regularly seen. Because of the large population of predators, this is not a destination for a lot of plains game. Many species are there and encountered while tracking buffalo or other big game, but in less dense populations than can be found elsewhere. We did see a fair number of impala, some kudu, warthogs, quite a few zebra, sable, bushbuck, klipspringer and duiker. I cannot imagine a better location for buffalo or elephant. Hippos and crocs are common along the Zambezi River. In winter there, the last half of July, the temperatures were much like our summer temperatures in western Montana – 50’s at night, 80-90’s during the hot part of the day.
I hope to return someday…..!!

Edit your post. On the pictures delete everything on the link up to [IMG] at the beginning and delete everything after [IMG] at the end. Just leave "[IMG] . . . . [IMG]". Make sure you are using the code in the IMG box on Photobucket. That is what I did on the picture above . . . so it works.

Brilliant report about a fabulous safari in a great area with a first class outfit and top PH.
It made me home sick.

Great report and photos. Thanks for sharing.

Went to your photo bucket and grabbed them for you ,Hope you don't mind posting and trying to help NICE TROPHIES !
D

quote:

Originally posted by demilburn:
thanks for pulling the photos - I am usually not quite this stupid but danged if I see anything labeled "IMG" on the photo bucket page with my photos?

Go into photo bucket and click on a picture. When it comes up on the next screen on the right side you will see two choices....

EMAIL & IM

and below that

IMG

If you point at the window next to IMG and click you will see it kind of disappear then say COPIED then return. That is the same as you doing a copy and paste.

You then go to AR or whatever forum you want to share the picture and right click where you want it placed in your text and choose PASTE.

Easy peezy!!

Cheers
Jim

I think I have the ones necessary in the correct location in the summary - thanks for your help.

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:

thanks for your help. I think I have the ones I need placed in the correct position in the summary.

quote:

Originally posted by The Artistry of Wildlife:
Went to your photo bucket and grabbed them for you ,Hope you don't mind posting and trying to help NICE TROPHIES !
D

Congrats man!

Well done Demilburn and the CM team led by Al on this safari. Wonderful Sable!!

It brings back Vivid memories for me as i got my Sable in Dande North a couple of seasons ago as well with CM.

CM do indeed put on a good show!

Glad it all worked out in the end for you.

There is always next time for the Eland. I got mine in Dande last year on my second effort!!!
They are there but you need to dedicate some time to them.Later in the season more come through from Moz. I got mine in mid Sept.

Sable and Eland are at the top of the Plains game species for sure!

cheers

Nick

Great report, great pictures and what a hunt! Loved seeing familiar places. Can't wait to get back - we're chasing sable next trip as well.

Great report and pics! Loved the Sable story. I shot mine in Dande South.

Super hunt and great Sable and Buff. The other photos were really good.

Very nice! CMS is always solid as a rock. Your pics bring back some great memories.

Did your daughter enjoy the safari as much as you did?

Outstanding, congrats!

Yes, she loved also - this was her third trip with me to Africa. She was with me every step of the way and was not ready to come home. She has some very nice photos and good video clips also. She puts them together into a dvd with cool African music - so far this one looks to be about 45 min. long.

quote:

Originally posted by bwanajay:
Very nice! CMS is always solid as a rock. Your pics bring back some great memories.

Did your daughter enjoy the safari as much as you did?

I flew into the camp two days after you left.

They were still taking about the sable that fought the hyenas.

Congrats on a great safari. Alan and CMS are top notch for sure.

Well written report and some great trophies!
Nice pictures. Looks like you had a great time!
Congratulations.

Great hunt, great story, great photos.
Really glad the sable story had a happy ending.

More good stuff with CMS - congrats sir!!!!

Great hunt!

I think I talked to you on the phone about a year or so ago?

I know Amanda a bit and glad you guys had such a great trip!

Congrats,

Chris

Yes, we did talk after I saw your hunt report. We did have a great time - not my finest shooting effort but it all worked out for a great memory. Just need to figure out how to get back over there....

quote:

Originally posted by FishN4Eyes:
Great hunt!

I think I talked to you on the phone about a year or so ago?

I know Amanda a bit and glad you guys had such a great trip!

Congrats,

Chris

Congratulations on the Sable

Persistence pays off.

Congratulations Sable are tough I ended up shooting mine 6 times 4 of which should put him down got up and finally went down after the 6 shot . it spine lungs twice chest cavity 2 or 3 times

Very nice !
Cal